Epi-Life.com

Who has defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of illness. Mental Health forms an important and essential part of "Health".

Mental illnesses are a common accompaniment of any chronic condition like epilepsy and they contribute to much of the disability experienced by persons with epilepsy and their family members.

Anxiety and Epilepsy:

Many people with Epilepsy experience anxiety as a result of the diagnosis of epilepsy and the ensuing adjustment. Anxiety may also occur as part of the pre-ictal, ictal and post-ictal aspect of a seizure. Some people with epilepsy have attacks that are associated with or precipitated by anxiety.

Potential sources of anxiety in people with epilepsy

	Fear of having a seizure and the belief that seizures may lead to death.
	Stigmatizing condition of epilepsy
	Determination to conceal the condition - epilepsy.
It has been Suggested that a reciprocal relationship exists between anxiety and epilepsy is that the more anxious the person with epilepsy is the more likely they are to have a seizure and the more seizures they have the more anxious they become.

Depression:

There may be a number of causes for depression in people with epilepsy including biological reasons. The potential relationship between epilepsy, depressive feelings and depressive illness may be classified as follows:

	Depressive reaction to acquiring the label of epilepsy.
	Depressive reaction to social / family problems of epilepsy
	Prodromal depressive feelings before a seizure.
	Depressive feelings as an aura
	Depressive feelings as an ictal experience
	Post ictal depressive feelings
	Depressive twilight state
	Epileptic Depressive delirium
	Endogenous depression unrelated directly to seizures, but possibly due to their increase in frequency.
	Depressive symptoms occuring in association with other mental illnesses.
	Social consequences of being a person with epilepsy in relation to their ability to function effectively in the work place as well as a family supporter.

Epilepsy and aggression:

There is no evidence to show that aggression may occur due to epilepsy or consequence of seizures. If violence has been witnessed, it could be as a response to constraint by others during the recovery stage of a seizure.

Epilepsy & Psychosis

The relationship between epilepsy and psychosis is unclear. A small number of people with epilepsy may present with psychoses and there is a suggestion that their symptoms may well be as a result of an underlying epileptic process linked with lesions in the brain.